Tag Archives: Islamic State

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton slammed rival Donald Trump on Monday for saying that the week-old effort to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the control of Islamic State was going badly. “He’s basically declaring defeat before the battle has even started,” Clinton said at a campaign event …

10/23/2016World NewsComments Off on Iraqi army drives Islamic State from Christian region near Mosul

Iraqi army troops on Saturday stormed into a Christian region that has been under Islamic State control since 2014 as part of U.S.-backed operations to clear the entrances to Mosul, the militants’ last major city stronghold in Iraq. The advance took place as U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter met Prime …

10/22/2016World NewsComments Off on Church bells peal in town retaken by Iraqi troops from Islamic State

The din of bullets, mortars and bombs in the northern Iraqi town of Bartella was replaced momentarily on Friday by a sound not heard there for more than two years: the peal of church bells. A cautious calm returned to this historic Christian area following its recapture from Islamic State …

10/19/2016World NewsComments Off on U.S. expects Islamic State to wield chemical weapons in Mosul fight

The United States expects Islamic State to use crude chemical weapons as it tries to repel an Iraqi-led offensive on the city of Mosul, U.S. officials say, although adding that the group’s technical ability to develop such weapons is highly limited. U.S. forces have begun to regularly collect shell fragments …

10/18/2016World NewsComments Off on Coalition warplanes kill 20 Islamic State militants in Syria: Turkish army

United States-led coalition warplanes killed 20 Islamic State militants in Syria over the last 24 hours, the Turkish military said on Tuesday, nearly two months into a Turkey-backed rebel operation to drive the jihadists away from the border. Turkey pushed on with the Syrian operation as Iraqi forces launched a …

10/17/2016World NewsComments Off on Iraq launches offensive to recapture Mosul from Islamic State

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday launched a battle to liberate the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State in its most ambitious campaign since U.S. forces left five years ago, and the United States predicted the militant group would suffer “a lasting defeat.” “I announce today the start …

09/27/2016World NewsComments Off on Islamic State ‘dead set’ on using chemical arms: Pentagon spokesman

Islamic State militants are “dead set” on using chemical arms and are likely to try them again as Iraqi forces advance on Mosul, a Pentagon spokesman said on Monday, a week after a rocket with a possible chemical agent landed near U.S. troops. The rocket fired Tuesday landed in an …

Syrian government forces and their allies again laid siege to rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Sunday, while Turkish-backed fighters drove Islamic State from all the areas along its border, in two significant but separate developments in the multi-sided conflict. The fighting – two potential turning points in the conflict if the …

08/31/2016World NewsComments Off on Key Islamic State leader killed in apparent U.S. strike in Syria

Islamic State said on Tuesday one of its most prominent and longest-serving leaders was killed in what appeared to be an American air strike in Syria, depriving the militant group of the man in charge of directing attacks overseas. A U.S. defense official told Reuters the United States targeted Abu …

08/30/2016World NewsComments Off on U.S.-led coalition planes hit Islamic State in north Syria: Turkish military

U.S.-led coalition warplanes hit Islamic State targets near the Syrian frontier town of Jarablus overnight, the Turkish military said on Tuesday, as forces backed by Ankara pushed deeper into north Syria. Two A-10 planes hit and destroyed two Islamic State targets, the military said in a statement, without elaborating. Turkey-backed …